Citigroup Announces Groundbreaking Indices To Track Value of Major Currency Markets

The indices represent a significant departure from the compositionof the market indicators, such as Trade Weighted Indices (TWI) andEffective Exchange Rate, that policy makers and market practitionershave relied upon for decades.

While trade weighted indices were constructed to reflect theimportance of international trade flows, allowing market participantsto monitor and trade the relative performance of a currency against abasket of currencies, the composition of the foreign exchange markethas changed greatly since their introduction.

"Trade flows no longer dominate foreign exchange activity as weestimate that capital flows now account for 70 percent of the totalforeign exchange volume. CitiFX(R) Flow Weighted Indices retain theinternational trade component, but also capture the composition ofcurrency flow generated by real money managers, hedge funds andbanks," said Philip Brass, global head of CitiFlows advisory. "Unlikeexisting indices, the CFWI provides new insight into the moderncurrency market. Ultimately it is not just goods that drive valuationbut also portfolio flows, and our indices are uniquely positioned tocapture the combined impact of both sources of value."

The CFWI will be updated annually and incorporate all flows fromall client types. The currency weights will be calculated from thelast three years of flow data, which allows the weights to bestatistically robust and dynamic. The 10 currency indices will becalculated in real-time and available on Reuters and Bloomberg underthe symbol CFWI (GO).

"It is important for any database used today be a realisticrepresentation of market activity," said Jeff Feig, Citigroup's globalhead of foreign exchange. "The breadth of our platform enables us tofacilitate significant capital flow from all client segments. Combinedwith the depth of our global corporate relationships, Citigroup isuniquely qualified to produce this new index."

Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking

Our Corporate and Investment Banking group achieves theextraordinary for our clients around the world. No financialinstitution is more committed to understanding and advancing the goalsof its clients - our diverse and talented staff in some 100 countriesadvises companies, governments, and institutional investors on thebest way to realize their strategic objectives. We create solutionsfor and provide the broadest possible capital and market access tothousands of issuer and investor clients, and no institution betterexecutes the increasingly complex payment and cash managementsolutions required in today's global economy. Additional informationcan be found at: www.citigroupgcib.com

Citigroup (NYSE: C), the leading global financial services companyhas some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments andinstitutions with a broad range of financial products and services,including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investmentbanking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Major brandnames under Citigroup's trademark red umbrella include Citibank,CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney and Banamex. Additionalinformation may be found at www.citigroup.com